EFF imply plot in bank report

Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) spokesperson Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi told parliament’s standing committee on finance he was “not persuaded” by Terry Motau’s report on the alleged looting at VBS Bank.

The report was commissioned by the SA Reserve Bank.

Ndlozi also aggressively confronted Motau with a barrage of questions, one of which appeared to be an allegation that Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan was involved in the report.

“Did you meet any individuals to discuss the report before its release? For example, Mr Pravin Gordhan. Did you meet him to discuss the report or anyone at the Treasury? If you did, what was the basis and what were the discussions?” he asked.

The report, The Great Bank Heist, revealed the bank was looted of R1.9 billion and implicated 53 people, one of which was EFF deputy president Floyd Shivambu’s brother Brian. An article in online news site Daily Maverick shortly afterwards alleged that Floyd himself had received about R10 million from his brother and the EFF had received R1.3 million.

Ndlozi said there was “too much fiction, employment of fiction and hyperbole” in the report, which he said “really borders sometimes on compromising facts”.

He continued: “It doesn’t really read as a good legal document in my view. In a country where the financial sector is one of the most stubborn to transform, I don’t get out of the report the feeling that there is a way of holding institutions accountable in this space.”

He also hinted at a plot, or irregularity in the singling out of Brian Shivambu in the report.

“Why put the name Brian Shivambu if he has a company and his company has a legal persona in law? Other people are not named, it’s companies ... What are we dealing with here?” he asked.

He went on to question several aspects of the report, including its legality. “Do you accept that if the report is successfully challenged in a court then you would have wasted time and money by not doing a thorough job and helping us to clamp down on corruption and criminality?”

Motau responded to Ndlozi’s criticisms of the style of writing in the report by saying it was written for “ordinary people” and did not employ complex legal language. Ndlozi hit back, accusing Motau of being “dishonest”.

It really borders sometimes on compromising facts.

Mbuyiseni Ndlozi EFF spokesperson